Amazon Launchpad is an invite-only, no-cost program for emerging brands — and as of 2026-08-08, Amazon publishes no US eligibility page for it at all. A request to https://sell.amazon.com/programs/launchpad returns 301 Moved Permanently and lands on the generic /programs hub, where the word “Launchpad” does not appear a single time. The UK, Canada and India seller sites return 404 for that same path.
One market is the exception: India runs Launchpad on a different URL, sell.amazon.in/grow-your-business/launchpad/benefits-and-faq, which returns 200, still shows an “Apply to Launchpad” button, and publishes its own rules and its own fee. So “no published eligibility page” describes the US and the storefronts checked here, not the world (all statuses checked 2026-08-08).
That reframes the decision. Every eligibility number circulating in blog posts — $5 million, $10 million, four years, two years, 3.5 stars — comes from one of the retired US versions of that page, and they contradict each other because Amazon rewrote the criteria twice before pulling it.
The short answer: can you still apply for Amazon Launchpad?
Not in the US, in the sense of filling in a form. The last official US description of the program (archived 2025-01-04) opens with this sentence:
“Amazon Launchpad is a no-cost, invite-only program that helps up-and-coming brands optimize their listings, promote their products, and access discounts that can accelerate their business in the Amazon store.”
“Invite-only” replaced the open application flow of earlier versions. So the practical answer for a US seller in 2026: you cannot chase Launchpad directly. You can only make your brand match the profile Amazon invites, documented below. If a service provider offers to “get you into Launchpad” for a fee, ask which official page they are working from — for the US there isn’t one.
What happened to the official Amazon Launchpad page
The documented timeline, from Internet Archive captures of the URL plus a live check today:
| Date | State of sell.amazon.com/programs/launchpad | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-05-06 | Live, open applications, 5% referral fee premium, under four years / under $5M | Archived capture (earliest English capture of this URL) |
| 2022-09-20 | Live, open applications, premium gone: “There is no additional fee” | Archived capture |
| 2023-09-28 | Live, banner reads “Launchpad enrollment is suspended until further notice.” | Archived capture |
| 2025-01-04 | Live, rewritten as “no-cost, invite-only” | Archived capture |
| 2025-01-25 | Same text as 2025-01-04 | Last archived capture returning HTTP 200 |
| 2025-06-11 → 2026-08-05 | Every archived capture returns HTTP 301 | Archived captures |
| 2026-08-08 | HTTP 301 to sell.amazon.com/programs; zero mentions of Launchpad on the destination page | Live check |
Two things did not disappear. The consumer storefront still resolves: https://www.amazon.com/launchpad redirects to a Launchpad browse-node page and returns HTTP 200 (checked 2026-08-08). And the terms-and-conditions document the 2025 page linked to — Seller Central reference G202007390 — still exists, but it sits behind a Seller Central login, so that specific US document cannot be retrieved from outside an account (checked 2026-08-08). A European counterpart is public: the “Amazon Launchpad Programme Terms” PDF sits openly on Amazon’s own CDN, no login needed. Its metadata dates it to 2020-06-24 and its contents match the 2021-era rules (application required, 5% premium, 12-month commitment), not the 2025 rewrite. It adds one term the US page never published: participation “will automatically terminate on the fifth anniversary” of your first Launchpad listing — a 2020 European clause, not a current US rule.
The reasonable reading: the program still exists for brands Amazon selects, but Amazon stopped marketing it to US sellers. Treat any “Launchpad requirements” list as a historical record, not a live rulebook.
Amazon Launchpad eligibility requirements, line by line
Every line below is quoted verbatim from an official Amazon page that is now offline and survives only as an Internet Archive capture, each re-read against its capture on 2026-08-08. Amazon publishes none of it today: read this as a record of the last stated rules, not a live rulebook.
| # | Criterion | What Amazon actually published | Source capture (page now offline) | Self-checkable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Selling plan | “Have a Professional selling plan” | 2025-01-04 capture | Yes — Seller Central account info |
| 2 | Time on Amazon | “Have had products listed in Amazon’s US store for less than two years” | 2025-01-04 capture | Yes — first listing creation date |
| 3 | Product demand | “Offer products that are sought by Amazon customers” | 2025-01-04 capture | No — Amazon’s judgement |
| 4 | Brand backing | “Have a brand with a substantial social media following, capital support, and a demonstrated commitment to invest in their growth with Amazon” | 2025-01-04 capture | Partly — follower counts, funding |
| 5 | Brand Registry age | “or have enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry less than four years ago” (an alternative to that version’s own four-year listing rule, not to line 2) | 2023-09-28 capture only | Yes — enrollment date |
| 6 | Annual sales ceiling | “should have generated less than $10 million in gross merchandise sales in Amazon’s online store annually” | 2023-09-28 capture only | Yes — Business Reports |
| 7 | Star rating | “products must maintain at least 3.5 stars” | 2023-09-28 capture, marketing-event bar | Yes — detail pages |
| 8 | Review count | “have at least 5 reviews” | 2023-09-28 capture, marketing-event bar | Yes — detail pages |
| 9 | Fulfilment | “be enrolled in Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) with Prime Badging” | 2023-09-28 capture, marketing-event bar | Yes — offer listing |
| 10 | Program fee | “There is no additional fee for Amazon Launchpad.” | 2023-09-28 capture; the 2021 version charged 5%, see below | n/a |
| 11 | Inventory minimum | Not published in any US version reviewed | — | — |
Lines 7 to 9 carry a caveat most write-ups drop: on the 2023 page they answered a narrower question — criteria for Launchpad marketing events — so they gated merchandising placements, not the invitation. At 3.4 stars you miss the events, not the program.
Line 11 matters because a “keep at least 5 units in stock” rule circulates widely; it appears in none of the official versions reviewed here.
Why every article quotes different Amazon Launchpad numbers
Because Amazon changed them. The same URL carried three materially different rule sets:
| Criterion | 2021-05-06 capture | 2023-09-28 capture | 2025-01-25 capture (last live) |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to join | Open application, “Apply now” | Application, but “enrollment is suspended until further notice” | Invite-only |
| Time on Amazon | Less than four years | Less than four years, or Brand Registry under four years | Less than two years |
| Sales ceiling | Less than $5 million GMS annually | Less than $10 million GMS annually | Not stated |
| Fee | 5% premium added to referral fees | “There is no additional fee” | “no-cost” |
| Maximum stay | Not stated | Not stated | “can’t exceed 36 consecutive months” |
Read the fee row twice. In 2021 Amazon wrote: “If your Selling on Amazon account is accepted into LP, a 5% premium will be added to the Referral Fees described on the Selling on Amazon Fee Schedule.” Amazon could lower it to 3% above $1 million in trailing-12-month sales, “in its sole discretion.” By the 2022-09-20 capture the same FAQ read: “There is no additional fee for Amazon Launchpad.” A post citing the 5% premium is quoting a US version dead for years — though it is still India’s live rule, which is why the two markets read so differently.
The commitment: 12 months, not 6 — and a 36-month ceiling
Sellers most often get the lock-in wrong in the “shorter than reality” direction. The 2023 version made it a hard requirement: “A 12-month minimum commitment is required from the date of acceptance. After 12 months, you can cancel your participation in the Amazon Launchpad Program after providing 30 days’ written notice.” Amazon’s stated reason: “12 months will allow brands to participate in all major events such as Prime Day and Holiday gift giving.” It also reserved its own exit: “Amazon Launchpad reserves the right to transition brands out of the program at our discretion.”
The 2025 rewrite softened the obligation and added a ceiling: “A 12-month minimum commitment to Launchpad is recommended, and participation can’t exceed 36 consecutive months.” So the shape of the deal, as last published in the US, is a one-year expectation inside a three-year maximum — a runway, not a permanent tier. The public 2020 European contract sets a five-year automatic end instead, so do not assume 36 months applies outside the US.
No official US version reviewed here mentions a six-month minimum; that figure did not come from Amazon’s own page.
Leaving is not neutral. Amazon’s 2023 exit FAQ stated that after transitioning out, “your products will no longer be featured in the Amazon Launchpad family of storefronts,” and Launchpad A+ content stays live but must be switched to standard A+ Content modules to edit it.
What Launchpad gave brands, as last published
From the 2025-01-04 capture, the benefits fell into three buckets — the strongest argument for the program.
Merchandising and reach: Premium A+ Content for products in Brand Registry; listing optimisation recommendations; ads on Freevee; placement in curated collections (“New & Noteworthy”, “Customers Most Loved”, “Internet Famous”); consideration for Amazon’s own TikTok and Instagram posts and for influencer collaborations.
Hard discounts: the cost of two Lightning Deals or Best Deals waived each week; 50% off coupon redemption fees; unlimited product enrollment in Amazon Vine at no cost; $10,000–$25,000 in AWS Activate credits; $2,000 in sponsored ad click credits.
Support: the Launchpad Portal, a dedicated support team, catalogue data and insights, help creating variations, and a monthly newsletter.
The 2023 version also tiered by sales: an SAS Core account manager above $750,000 in trailing-12-month sales; above $1 million, an extra merchandising package and Deal of the Day rights.
One limit: this is what Amazon published, not what an invitation delivers in 2026. Whether these benefits still stand is visible only inside an invited brand’s Seller Central account, so no public source can confirm them today.
Is Amazon Launchpad worth it? A decision framework
Since you cannot apply in the US, “worth it” becomes “worth optimising for.” Find your row.
| Your situation | Is Launchpad a realistic target? | What to do instead or first |
|---|---|---|
| Listed under 2 years, funded, real social following | Yes — you fit the last published invite profile | Get Brand Registry done, run Vine, build reviews past 5 and hold 3.5 stars |
| Listed under 2 years, bootstrapped, no audience | Unlikely — “capital support” and “substantial social media following” were explicit | Spend on reviews and listing quality, not Launchpad consultants |
| Listed 2–4 years, under $10M | Only under the retired 2023 rule via the Brand Registry route | Treat Launchpad as out of scope; chase deals and events on merit |
| Over $10M, or listed 4+ years | No — every version had a ceiling | Pursue Amazon’s account-managed programs directly |
The benefits with real cash value — Vine, waived deal fees, ad credits — are worth having, but the behaviours that earn an invitation are what you should be doing anyway.
Common mistakes
- Quoting a number without its version. “$5 million” and “$10 million” are both real, roughly two years apart. Pair every Launchpad figure with its publication year.
- Assuming a three-year listing limit. No US version said “less than three years”; the published values were four years, then two.
- Treating the 3.5 stars / 5 reviews bar as an entry gate. It gated marketing events, not membership — and the “5” meant reviews, not units of stock. No inventory minimum was ever published.
- Budgeting for a 5% US referral fee premium. That was the 2021 rule, gone by 2022 — though still live in India.
- Paying an agency for “Launchpad enrollment.” No public US enrollment page since mid-2025; India is the one market still publishing an application route.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amazon Launchpad still active in 2026?
Yes. The consumer storefront returns HTTP 200 and India’s seller-facing Launchpad page is live and still taking applications (both checked 2026-08-08). What changed is the US: that program page has redirected to the generic programs hub since at least June 2025, where Launchpad is not listed. Amazon published no discontinuation notice.
How do I apply for Amazon Launchpad?
In the US you cannot: the last official description called it “invite-only,” and no application form is linked from sell.amazon.com today. In India you still can — sell.amazon.in publishes a Launchpad page with an “Apply to Launchpad” button (both checked 2026-08-08).
Does Amazon Launchpad cost anything?
In the US, no: the 2023 page stated “There is no additional fee for Amazon Launchpad,” and the 2025 page called it “no-cost.” The 2021 version charged a 5% referral fee premium — the source of older cost claims. India is different and current: its live page charges “either a 5% or 2% premium” on gross shipped sales.
How long is the Amazon Launchpad commitment?
Twelve months from acceptance per the 2023 US page, cancellable afterwards on 30 days’ written notice. The 2025 page called 12 months “recommended” and capped participation at 36 consecutive months. The public 2020 European terms also require 12 months but end participation automatically after five years.
Do I need Brand Registry for Amazon Launchpad?
No official US version made it a hard requirement, but the 2023 page accepted “enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry less than four years ago” as a qualifying route, and the headline benefit — Premium A+ Content — required it.
Does Launchpad require FBA?
FBA with Prime badging appeared in the customer-experience bar for Launchpad marketing events, not as a standalone entry requirement. Missing it forfeits the merchandising that makes the program valuable.
The bottom line
Amazon Launchpad, as last published in the US, was a no-cost, invite-only, up-to-36-month accelerator for brands under two years old with funding and an audience. Amazon stopped promoting it to US sellers between January and June 2025, and the official URL now 301s to a page that never mentions it. If you fit the profile, build the qualifying signals — Brand Registry, FBA with Prime, ratings above 3.5, real review volume ahead of peak season — and let an invitation find you. If you do not, no amount of chasing changes that.
Quotations attributed to a capture date are reproduced verbatim from Internet Archive captures of sell.amazon.com/programs/launchpad dated 2021-05-06, 2022-09-20, 2023-09-28, 2025-01-04 and 2025-01-25, each re-read 2026-08-08. India and European-terms quotations come from those live documents. Live status checks performed 2026-08-08.